Free Republic

This is the season to spend, spend, spend. But if consumers aren’t careful with their credit cards, they’ll need all of 2004 to pay for toys that will be broken the week after Christmas, warn credit counselors and collection agencies. "Using credit cards has become such a way of life that people don’t question it anymore," said Nathan Thompson, a spokesman for ACA International, the Minneapolis-based association that represents third-party collection agencies. "It’s just another cost of living." But that kind of thinking can be dangerous because the average U.S. household has almost $9,000 in credit card debt, according to...